PHOENIX — Jurors at the retrial of an Arizona man charged with the 1991 murders of nine people at a Buddhist temple in metro Phoenix were played a confession from the man's high-school friend who said they went to the house of worship to carry out a robbery.
Prosecutors in 39-year-old Johnathan A. Doody's retrial focused heavily in opening statements Wednesday on the recorded confession of Alessandro Garcia, who pleaded guilty to the nine murders and was sentenced to life in prison.
Garcia said Doody had masterminded the August 1991 robbery at the Wat Promkunaram temple in the community of Waddell and insisted that Doody was intent on not leaving behind any witnesses.
"His intentions were to kill everybody," the then-16-year-old Garcia said, insisting that he didn't want anyone killed.
Doody's lawyers say their client is innocent and that Garcia gave investigators who were feeling public pressure to solve the high-profile murders whatever they wanted, allowing Garcia to avoid the death penalty.
Doody is accused of killing six monks, a nun and two helpers during a robbery. Their bodies were found arranged face-down in a circle, each shot in the back of the head. Authorities say Doody and Garcia made off with cameras, stereo equipment, piggy banks and about $2,600 in cash.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/buddhist-temple-killing-suspect-retrial-begins-article-1.1433780
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